GONADS/RitchieRun--6/5/11.The Confederate Gentleman's Playbook

Aye, we planted the virtual ShovelFlag and hit the RitchieRun in the early morning hours.

The Faithful:

OBT
Dark Warrior
PBo
Pomfret

The Thang:
12.1 miles on the MMOB "This is My City" Loop, from Freedom Park through Dilworth and the South End, out West Morehead and Tuckasegee to the Wesley Heights Greenway, back through downtown on 7th Street; back to Freedom along the Sugar Creek Greenway. Time was 1:46:50; approximately an 8:45/mile pace.

Spreadsheets From the Gloom:

_ We had a large number of regulars apparently opting for the Fartsack this AM: Dredd; MMOB; TangoDelta; The Colonel. Nino/Boy Marlo, who to my memory has never actually posted for the RitchieRun, chimed in at 11:34 p.m. on Saturday night with "So f---ing out," just to make sure no one was under any illusions.

_ MMOB responded to the pre-blast with a quick "Out" on Saturday. However, in a move straight out of the 19th century Confederate gentleman's playbook, he "volunteered" Smiley to take his place. Sadly, Smiley also opted for the Fartsack, raising the question of what the punishment is when your substitute fails to report for duty.

_ For a while there as we headed out to the West Side, it sounded as though PBo was headed for yet another scrodding emergency, but he managed to hold things together for the whole run. Would someone just get the man a bag of chia seeds already? I gave my spare bag to SixMike ...

_ Clearly feeling Dredd's absence, PBo tried to spark a debate about whether or not Muslims are taking over Europe and pose an existential threat from within to freedom and democracy on the continent that the U.S. fought two devastating wars to save back in the 20th century. I made a half-hearted attempt to play the role of Dredd, but really in the end this group was a little too heavy on the "You Can Call Me Al" Quotient (i.e., "soft in the middle") to get a good head of steam going on the topic.

_ As we ran out West Morehead, Pomfret sang the praises of the "Man Salad" offered on the menu at The Burger Company. With MOBT hosting the Book Club That Never Reads Any Books at Casa OBT this evening, OBT will be taking 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2 out to dinner this evening and trying out a Man Salad for himself. Review to follow.

_ Best wishes to the Alcatraz gang -- we were thinking of you in the 51-degree water as we swam our way through the 78-degree humidity in CLT this morning.

_ We'll need a substitute QIC for the Ritchie next weekend, as I am headed to Iowa and South Dakota with Crazy Legs QIC and honorary GONAD Tino for back-to-back marathons.

OBT